Salvation in Isaiah 10

It is very difficult for us to see what is happening on the
world stage at the moment isn’t it? We are confronted with
imminent war – nations taking up arms against another
because of the perceived threat that they sense or know about
against national or world security. An army is massed and is
ready to attack. What are we the people of God to make of it all?
Do we ignore it or pay little attention because it is happening
so far away from us for it to matter? Our media will not allow
that to happen for with their characteristic obsession to know
everything and to tell everything in minute detail, they will
ensure that we are informed. They also tend to shape the opinion
of those who listen to them. Saturday’s newspapers went
from one extreme to another – open rejection and criticism
of the way that our leaders are sending men to war on one hand,
and positive support for the same action – with some papers
in the middle saying if it’s necessary then we had better
do it.

What does God think about these things? Can we find any clues
in the scriptures? When we think about His sovereignty and rule
in the universe what are we to make of the current situation?

Has the Lord God sent the Americans and British to threaten
Saddam Hussein? Has the Lord God provoked Saddam Hussein to
challenge certain things about western culture that displeases
the Lord by encouraging terrorists?

The principles of scripture tell us that we are to consider
world events in light of God’s ruling and over ruling, but
never that He is the author of evil in any way.

The passage in Isaiah 10 immediately addresses the issue. The
nation of Assyria, mighty, armed to the teeth and hungry to
dominate and create an Assyrian Empire, was an instrument in
God’s hand to bring punishment to His people the Jews who
had forsaken His ways and broken His laws. Assyria was no better
and no worse than any other power hungry nation. They were
sinners, non-Jews, gentiles, who rose to power – and then
were permitted, by God’s permissive will, to do what sinful
power hungry men do – to attack and maraud other nations.
Including Israel and Judah.

Assyria is called here GOD’S ROD – verse 5,

O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger

A rod is used to drive an animal; but in some cultures crime
is punished with strokes of a rod on the bare back. The Jews
themselves had this punishment although for mercy’s sake it
was restricted to 39 strokes. You may recall that Paul suffered
this several times.

2 Corinthians 11 v 24 Of the Jews five times received I forty
stripes save one.

We can divide this chapter into three parts.

1. GOD’S RETRIBUTION v 1 – 19: His use of a
Gentile nation to chastise his people.

2. GOD’S REMNANT v 20 – 27: Not all of
Israel and Judah would be destroyed in the retribution –
some would be spared.

3. GOD’S RESCUE v 28 – 34: How God would
deal with the Assyrians and rescue His remnant.

Let’s think about the first part.

1. GOD’S RETRIBUTION

Isaiah was a prophet. One commentator describes Isaiah using
his PROPHESCOPE to see ahead the advance of the Assyrian army,
the agents of God’s anger.

We can notice straight away that God the Lord had used
diplomacy at the beginning of His controversy with His people.
No, it was not through the United Nations, or NATO nor through
any worldly coalitions or summits to discuss things. No –
God sent emissaries. He sent His prophets to warn and plead with
the special people who should have known better. They had every
privilege of God’s grace and favour. God set down His ways
for them to live and to be blessed in life and all they had to do
was to follow them. Right from their beginnings as a nation after
the captivity in Egypt, God made sure that they knew where He
stood. Deuteronomy 7 v 1 – 11.

1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land
whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations
before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites,
and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the
Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; 2 And
when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt
smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant
with them, nor shew mercy unto them: 3 Neither shalt thou make
marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his
son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. 4 For they
will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve
other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you,
and destroy thee suddenly. 5 But thus shall ye deal with them;
ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and
cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. 6
For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy
God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above
all people that are upon the face of the earth. 7 The LORD did
not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more
in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
8 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the
oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought
you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of
bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know
therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God,
which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep
his commandments to a thousand generations; 10 And repayeth them
that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be
slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. 11
Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and
the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.

What a statement this is. Could anything be more plain? Could
the chosen people have had any doubt regarding their
responsibilities? And did they not know what the consequences of
sin would be if they failed to obey?

Now Isaiah, one of a succession of prophets sent by God to
preach God’s ways to the people and to call them back
earnestly, has to announce what God had determined to do because
of their refusal to love God and show their love by obeying
Him.

We saw last week the beginning of it.

For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is
stretched out still.

The details now emerge.

First, in verse 6 Isaiah has to tell them that Assyria is
coming against a hypocritical nation, profane in her ways,
polluted by idolatry and wickedness, which refuses to distinguish
between the holy and the unholy, the godly and the godless. And
they are the people of God’s wrath. Assyria has been given
permission to tread them down in the mire of the streets. It is
not so long ago in this country that instead of the paved streets
in our towns that we have, the streets were filthy places, muddy,
polluted with animal droppings and waste thrown out from the
houses. Streets were not nice places – when it rained they
were slippery and muddy; when it was hot they smelt horrible.
Here is where the enemy would come and crush the people – a
graphic picture of invasion.

Verse 7 is interesting in that it speaks of the motivation of
the Assyrians armies. Their generals and soldiers had no idea
that they were God’s instrument. It was not Assyria’s
intention to serve God and His purpose – but God was using
the character of the Assyrians, whose heart was driven by the
urge to conquer the world, for His own ends.

Verse 9 describes the onward march of the Assyrians. They came
from their territory in the North and from their capital Nineveh.
They marched on Carchemish, Arpad, Calno, Hamath and finally
Damascus. From there they were poised to attack Samaria and
onwards to Jerusalem These cities are all in a line and in order.
There was no stopping the Assyrian army. What a retribution this
was and there seemed to be no escape.

We must pause for a moment and take a breath!

Why is this piece of history in the Bible, God’s
word?

It is to remind readers of the scripture in every age that God
is serious about sin in His creatures. He is serious about the
breakage and ignorance of His laws. He is serious about the curse
of sin on His once perfect world. He is serious about nations and
individuals who refuse His righteous rule and His holy directives
for living. And He emphasises His seriousness by doing something
about it when the rise of sin and wickedness reaches such a point
that something must be done.

Is there a case for us to now think that our Western
civilizations are declining so rapidly into sin, godlessness,
humanism, witchcraft and self-assurance that it can’t be
long before God will do something about us? We may think that
because we are involved as a nation with another nation in a
crusade against those who would disturb our security, can we not
see that righteousness is not exactly an adjective for American
and British society today? Both nations have passed laws
permitting gross wickedness and immorality – not only
amongst the noble few, but also right throughout society. We are
assaulted every day with iniquity being flaunted and God being
ignored. No wonder some call us a Post Christian culture. Are we
infected with it my friends? Are we making concessions to the
rampant godlessness in our land? What is our purpose as a Church?
Surely it is to be Isaiah’s and Jonah’s,
Jeremiah’s and Hosea’s – to, first of all, live
holy and godly lives in the middle of terrible wickedness; and to
proclaim the alternative way – God’s way, the gospel
way Christ’s way of living. He has revealed to us the way
that we should live and has placed within us the power to do it,
by His Holy Spirit.

The judgement and retribution that came upon Israel and Judah
should be a warning to us that God is not passively letting
things go unnoticed – He is still serious about sin. There
are signs that the restraints of sin are being loosened so that
sin abounds more and more. How the world needs the gospel
desperately – God knows how to judge – are we
prepared to warn others of their danger, as Isaiah did?

We will pass over the Assyrians boasts of their victories in
verses 10 – 15 and briefly notice that God promises to deal
with the Assyrians Himself. The end of Assyria begins in verse 16
– famine will strike them; a burning crackling fire will
devour their proud glory. God Himself, the light of Israel and
the flame of judgement will be the fire that destroys them. This
prophecy’s fulfilment is recorded in Chapter 37 v 33
– 36.

33 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of
Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow
there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against
it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and
shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. 35 For I will
defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant
David's sake. 36 Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and
smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and
five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold,
they were all dead corpses.

What an end to a great army! As we said earlier, God is in
control; and we come next to

2. GOD’S REMNANT

The prophet Isaiah is reminded of his first son’s name
– Shearjashub – a remnant shall return. The message
is this – God’s people, though heavily chastised,
will be restored. The Apostle Paul quoted this section in Romans
9 v 27 & 28

27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of
the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall
be saved: 28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in
righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the
earth.

Paul’s purpose is to point out that God never promised
that all the descendants of Abraham would be saved; and those who
were saved were always spoken of as a remnant. Paul was referring
to the Jews saved under the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Though the nation will be brought to an end, a remnant shall be
saved. Not only would the Assyrians be destroyed but also there
will be a complete destruction of the old Jewish nation. That
judgement will be a righteous judgement. This is not the final
judgement at the end of time described in the New Testament, but
to a world judgement as time goes by – Isaiah says it will
be “in the midst of all the earth.” This is where
Jews are today – in the midst of all the earth – they
live everywhere in the nations of the world.

This remnant is a picture for us of the election of grace
– God’s electing and preserving love. From amongst
the Jewish people, to whom the Lord Jesus Christ came first of
all, there were God’s chosen and precious saints. And still
the realisation of this salvation of a remnant goes on. The
gospel is preached amongst Jewish people today and many are
coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah and
Saviour. God always keeps His promises and from Jews as well as
Gentiles they come – regenerated by His power under the
sound of the Gospel – turning in faith to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Certainly God has not finished with the remnant of the
Jews yet – praise His Name! Pray on for the work of
evangelism to the Jews.

3. GOD’S RESCUE

The final section in the chapter is from v 24 – 34.

There are some great words of assurance for the people of
Jerusalem here. Don’t be afraid! Even though the
Assyrian is on his way, he will be brought low – God will
deal with him.

In a description of King Sargon’s march towards
Jerusalem Isaiah outlines the route. Remember Isaiah is seeing
prophetically into the future – using his prophescope! The
inhabitants of Jerusalem are alerted but also comforted –
that the advance will be checked. The route goes like this
– verse 28 – Ai through the valleys of Migron to
Michmash where the heavier equipment was left behind in charge of
a rearguard party. This would give the army swift movement. Next
to Geba in the tribal lands of Benjamin – then a quick
advance to Ramah and Gibeah, where the local inhabitants would be
terrified. Panic spreads from Ramah to Laish and Anathoth, all
the time getting nearer and nearer to Jerusalem. Madmenah and
Gebim are the next places until the army arrived at Nob one of
the tabernacle’s resting places in Saul’s days.

But this is as far as the army gets. Here they pitch camp and
make their battle plans to assault the Holy City.

Verse 32 – yet he shall remain at Nob that day and wave
his fist against the mountain of the Lord.

Isaiah sees all this prophetically – with this endnote
– that God the Lord of Hosts shall lop off the lofty
branches of the cedars of Assyria. They, who thought themselves
great, the Assyrian chieftains, will be hewn down – by the
Lord of hosts. So to the people Isaiah says do not fear.

At the last minute Jerusalem will be saved from the Assyrians.
What an exciting rescue was being seen and predicted by Isaiah.
And because we can read the end of the book, we know that this is
exactly what happened! Isaiah 37.

Do not be afraid of the Assyrian! The devil knows how to drag
the saints down into discouragement. How easily we get
discouraged even though we are the redeemed children of God.

Let us then take Isaiah’s encouraging words – be
not afraid of the Assyrian – for yet a little while and the
indignation shall cease! Praise God!

The Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross defeated Satan and
all his hosts. He purchased our redemption and believers are safe
for ever more. Oh let us believe these things – and rejoice
that we have been rescued but such a glorious saviour.

As we draw to close let us see the message of the chapter.

From the first section we saw that God is serious about sin
– He hates it and can have nothing to do with it. It has to
be removed from the man or woman, boy or girl who still have sin
in the heart polluting the soul.

There is retribution, punishment for those who die and
do not have their sins forgiven, who do not ask for forgiveness,
who do not repent of their sins and put their trust and faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is awesome – The Assyrians were
described as God’s rod. God wields a rod against those
sinners who refuse His provision – the Lord Jesus Christ
who bore the rod of the wrath of God on their behalf.

Great is the Gospel of our glorious God,
Where mercy met the anger of God’s rod;
A penalty was paid and pardon bought,
And sinners lost at last to Him were brought!(William Vernon Highham)

But then we thought of the remnant promised by the Lord
God and how it speaks of the electing love of God of his
children. Can we see the ministry of our saviour the Lord Jesus
Christ in this section? Yes we can – for one of His names
is there – verse

21 The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob,
unto the mighty God.

His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty
God. This remnant speaks of the elect who will come to the Lord
Jesus Christ for salvation. They will trust Him. They will look
to Him for pardon and cleansing from their sins. They will
believe His word and they will be changed and made ready for
heaven. Brothers and sisters we will see them in glory, and they
will welcome us when we get there as fellows in redemption. What
a wonder heaven will be!

Finally the Rescue. What we need is rescue from the
punishment of hell facing all sinners and we need rescue from the
tyranny of sin and Satan. He is our foe.

Satan does all he can to keep us from coming to Christ. He
knows who the elect are and he particularly targets them to
deflect them from seeking the Lord. He puts obstacles in their
way. He attracts them with worldly pleasures and pursuits. He
suggests that Christianity is not for ordinary decent folks like
you – you will be better off without religion. There is no
terror beyond the grave he suggests; no God to answer to; no sins
to account for. So stay on his side and you will be alright.

How deceptive the evil one is. Is this what he whispers in
your ear my friend? Has he told you what the cost of becoming a
believer is and you do not want to take the risk? You don’t
want to lose your friends and your lifestyle, so you reject
Christ. My friends I tell you HE IS A LIAR! God is ready to
rescue but He is also ready to judge and to condemn those who
listen to Satan. The Lord Jesus Christ says come! Come and be
rescued. Come humbly. Come sincerely. Come, confident in a loving
God who is ready to save to the uttermost all who come through
His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.